Though still best known for his outstanding string of H.P. Lovecraft adaptations starting with Re-Animator, filmmaker and legendary Chicago theater innovator Stuart Gordon excelled in other unexpected areas outside of horror. From sci-fi (Robot Jox, Fortress, Space Truckers) to pitch-black comedy (Edmond, Stuck), he had a fine sense for combining dramatic structure with wild flamboyance where it was needed. Then there's King of the Ants, a very atypical early release from infamous "mockbuster" factory The Asylum (Sharknado) who was the only company willing to back such a harsh, grotesque story adapted by Charlie Higson from his brutal crime novel. Essentially sent straight to video apart from a few token one-off screenings, the film went on to amass something of a fan following as a unique and extremely potent experiment from Gordon with numerous ties to his theatrical roots.

Down on his luck on the fringes of L.A., Sean Crawley (McKenna) is recruited by Duke (Wendt) to do a job for his unscrupulous real estate developer boss, Ray (Baldwin)-- namely following and eventually killing Eric (an unbilled Livingston), an accountant who could send Ray to jail. After the difficult and brutal murder is committed, Ray refuses to pay up and, upon finding out Sean has kept incriminating evidence for safekeeping, proceeds to beat and torture the young man with the help of his cronies including Duke, Beckett (Wells), and Carl (Smith). Sean's path also crosses with Eric's widow, Susan (Wuhrer), and they fall in love with his involvement in her husband's death obviously serving as a time bomb that has to go off at some point.

Though it usually gets categorized outside of the horror genre, King of the Ants certainly feels like it belongs there with its gruesome noir twists also incorporating a brief but effective latex monster hallucination, some extremely effective and nasty gore effects including axe dismemberment on a frozen corpse, and a whole lot of blood. It also has the highest sex and nudity quotient of any Gordon film, an element almost entirely removed from several streaming options for the film (including Tubi) despite sliding past the MPAA with a still-surprising R rating. A TV actor on and off throughout his career including multiple soaps, McKenna is very good here as Sean and would later team up with Gordon again for stage productions including Re-Animator: The Musical (alongside Wendt) and the harrowing cannibal chamber drama Taste. Still best known for the classic sitcom Cheers, Wendt had been a Gordon cohort going back many years to their Chicago theater days and has a solid genre pedigree of his own including House and Masters of Horror. Still, it's strange seeing him be so brutal and villainous here which adds to the tremendous sense of menace felt throughout the entire film.

Even when it was projected in 35mm in L.A., King of the Ants still looked like it had been struck from an SD video master and has retained that appearance throughout its home video history. Though it was shot on film, the vague nature of its post-production and the extremely tiny budget seem to leave it up in the air whether a camera negative even exists. In any case, it first hit DVD in the U.S. in 2003 from DEJ as a limited rental exclusive and then a wider consumer-friendly edition the following year from First Look, featuring Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 options with English subtitles. Two audio commentaries were included, the first featuring Gordon, Wendt, and McKenna going into great detail about the production process and their collaboration including the execution of the most grueling scenes, the past experiences they worked into their roles, the adherence to the script, and much more. The second commentary with Higson covers the long, tough process of finding someone willing to adapt the book, his own process of working with Gordon, his thoughts on the casting and characters, and impressions of the final result. Also included is an EPK-style 14m50s featurette with lots of behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast and crew on the set. It's especially nice to see Wuhrer and Livingston chatting here since they don't seem to have gone on the record about it anywhere else. As mentioned above, the film went on to become available via streaming and got a German Blu-ray and DVD release as well.

In 2025, Treasured Films issued the most elaborate edition to date as a U.K. Blu-ray with their usual lovingly assembled packaging including a double-walled slipcase and an illustrated booklet with essays by Michael Doyle and Graham Skipper. (Ordering directly with the first 500 units also gets you a poster and a cool Ant Queen magnet.) The film itself looks about the same as always, with okay detail and very saturated color as well as odd 1.75:1 framing with only a small black bar on the left side. The framing here is very slightly tighter compared to the DVD but that doesn't seem to make any difference, and the DTS-DH MA 5.1 English audio (with optional SDH subtitles) still sounds excellent. Both of the earlier commentaries are ported over here along with the making-of featurette and trailer, while a new audio commentary by this writer and Troy Howarth obviously can't be assessed here but will hopefully make for a good listen. The biggest new video addition here is "Tales from the Ant Hill" (43m40s) featuring a warm joint interview with McKenna and Wendt and separate interviews with Higson and producer David Michael Latt looking back at the film including some iffy acting advice from Baldwin, taking the film out on the road, the obstacles getting it off the ground, the process of convincing Gordon to hire McKenna, and much more. In "Antmusings" (11m3s), Higson chats about his work in crime fiction influenced by writers like Elmore Leonard, the "grubby" perception of the genre at the time, and his intentions when writing the book as well as his approach to translating it to a visual medium. Then composer Bobby Johnston appears in "Antmusic" (8m29s) to cover his musical background, scoring the film with nontraditional instruments, and working with Gordon on his subsequent two noir-inspired films and the TV show Fear Itself. Finally in "A Story Well Told" (8m1s), producer Duffy Hecht looks back at meeting Gordon at Disney (circa The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit), the hands-on approach of Gordon on the set for the fast three-week shoot, and the casting process (including approaching Albert Finney and Brian Dennehy). An extensive image gallery (9m18s) of promotional and behind-the-scenes photos and home video art is also included, scored to selections from Johnston's score.

Treasured Films (Blu-ray)

First Look (DVD)

Reviewed on June 15, 2025